Month: February 2021

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Asian New Year –  Year of the Ox.

February 11^th, 1990~Nelson Mandela released after 27 years imprisonment in South Africa.

1937 A sit-down strike against General Motors ended with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.  Go to article »

Thomas Edison, inventor, b. 1847.
Jennifer Aniston, actress, b. 1969.

Stream “Knives Out,” “Beginners” and more films starring Christopher Plummer, who died last week at 91.

New evidence suggests Richard III really did kill the princes in the tower.

In 2019, a seismologist stumbled upon a fin whale song and discovered the soundwaves could penetrate the rock of the ocean floor, offering a glimpse of as much as 8,200 feet into the crust without adding to the sound pollution humans inflict on the oceans. His study, published this week, details the method.  It may also prove useful to marine ecologists. Just as seismometers on land have been trying to track elephants, oceanic seismometers might help track fin whales, which have been endangered by climate change, habitat loss and the grim legacy of commercial whaling.  “We can use the tools of biology to study seismology,” another scientist said. “And we can use the tools of seismology to study biology.”

When you realize it’s not Friday yet…it will be soon
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Regina King and Best Actor in a Supporting Role winner Brad Pitt walk backstage during the 92nd Oscars
CREDIT: RICHARD HARBAUGH/AMPAS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A model walks the runway for the Jason Wu Collection during February 2020 – New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Skylight Modern.
CREDIT: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES

Worshippers gather around candles stuck to jars of honey, arranged as a cross, during mass for the ‘sanctification of honey’ at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin church in the town of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
CREDIT: VALENTINA PERTOVA/AP
Market Closes for February 11^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31430.70	-7.10
		-0.02%
S&P 500	3916.38	+6.50
		+0.17%
NASDAQ	14025.773	+53.239 +0.38%
TSX	18392.99	-64.79
		-0.35%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29562.93	+57.00
		+0.19%
HANG SENG	30173.57	+134.85
		+0.45%
SENSEX	51531.52	+222.13
		+0.43%
FTSE 100*	6528.72	+4.36 +0.07%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.000	.989
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.597	1.574
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1632	1.1225
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9500	1.9074

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7870	0.7875
US $	1.2707	1.26985
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5411	0.6489
US $	1.2128	0.8245

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1842.65	1839.60
Oil
WTI Crude Future	58.24	58.68

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1956, the Korean Stock Exchange was established in Seoul.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities ended their eight-day win streak Thursday after marijuana shares plunged.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4%. Health care and materials led the drop, while industrials were among the gainers.
Tilray Inc. fell the most on record, halting a record three-day rally as a Reddit-inspired attempt to pump up the cannabis sector quickly unraveled. Inter Pipeline Ltd. surged as Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP made a hostile C$7.1 billion ($5.6 billion) offer following the failure of previous talks to produce a friendly deal. Air travel in Canada hasn’t even begun to bounce back from the Covid-19 crisis. Passenger traffic at airport checkpoints in January was just 13% of last year’s levels, versus 38% in the U.S., according to data from the countries’ transportation authorities. The situation for airlines is getting worse, even though virus cases are dropping.
Sun Life Financial Inc. will pay employees a C$500 bonus to thank them for their work during the Covid-19 pandemic and keep many staff working from home until at least September.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.25 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.9% to $1,826.31 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.2699 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield edged higher to 0.997%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4 percent at 18,392.99 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.8 percent on Jan. 29 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.3 percent.
Today, health care stocks led the market lower, as 6 of 11 sectors lost; 125 of 220 shares fell, while 93 rose. Aphria Inc. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 36.0 percent.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.4 percent
* The index advanced 3.5 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 10, 2021 and 64.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.4 on a trailing basis and 17.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.86t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.80 percent compared with 13.93 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.69 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Health Care | -61.0760| -16.8| 1/8
Materials | -29.0541| -1.2| 13/38
Energy | -8.4874| -0.4| 9/13
Communication Services | -5.0923| -0.6| 3/4
Utilities | -4.1149| -0.4| 8/8
Information Technology | -2.2951| -0.1| 5/5
Real Estate | 1.1593| 0.2| 10/16
Consumer Discretionary | 1.4029| 0.2| 8/5
Consumer Staples | 1.6004| 0.2| 7/4
Industrials | 14.0030| 0.6| 15/13
Financials | 27.1645| 0.5| 14/11
US
By Andreea Papuc and Adam Haigh
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose to a record with a late- session advance, while Treasuries slipped as a decline in jobless claims signaled a modest firming of the labor market.
The S&P 500 Index halted a two-day decline. Gains for tech shares lifted the Nasdaq 100 to a bigger advance. Ten-year Treasury yields rose to about 1.15%. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was buoyed by strong results from Royal Mail Plc and Credit Agricole SA.
Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell slightly last week in a sign that the labor market is still gradually improving as the vaccine rollout continues and business restrictions ease. After a sharp run-up in equities at the start of February, U.S. stocks have taken a pause as investors weighed the implications of the latest inflation data.
In the background, there’s still a debate over whether more U.S. stimulus, the vaccine distribution and the government’s determination to kickstart growth will cause the American economy to overheat. “While inflation is not showing up in the data right now, inflation is on its way thanks to fiscal and monetary stimulusand pent-up consumer demand that should intensify as the economy reopens,” Nancy Davis, founder of Quadratic Capital Management, said in a note.
In a speech Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. job market remains a long way from a full recovery and called on both lawmakers and the private sector to support workers. He also said it will require more than supportive monetary policy to achieve and sustain maximum employment.
Elsewhere in markets, oil slumped after capping the longest run of gains in two years. The dollar held steady and Bitcoin climbed above $47,000. In Asia, several markets in the region were closed ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Lunar New Year public holidays begin in nations across Asia, with China breaking for a week.
* Bank of Russia’s policy decision comes Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.5%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.2%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index advanced 0.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
* The euro advanced 0.1% to $1.2125.
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3806.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 104.79 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 1.15%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries was unchanged at 0.11%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to -0.46%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to 0.47%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.8% to $58.22 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.9% to $1,826.68 an ounce.
–With assistance from Michael Msika.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

He is a man whom it is impossible to please because he is never pleased with himself.
                                                            –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1763 France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.  Go to article »

1906 – British battleship HMS Dreadnought launches after only 100 days, renders all other capital ships obsolete with its revolutionary design.

More than 650 silver Roman coins found in a jug in Turkey.  A truly epic piggy bank. 

Aunt Jemima finally has a new name.  Fare ye well, Ms. Jemima. Hello, Pearl Milling Company

A meteorologist lost his wallet in Antarctica in the 1960s. He just got it back.

Scientists 3-D-printed a steak. (h/t Mike Smedley)

Ode to music, in all shapes and forms.  -from the NY Times.
The foot-long conch is an extremely rare example of a “seashell horn” from the Paleolithic period. And it still works. A musician recently coaxed three notes from the 17,000-year-old shell. Listen here
We also asked Manfred Honeck, the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a leading Beethoven conductor, to guide us through the beginning of the end of the mighty Ninth Symphony. In the orchestra’s new interpretation, Honeck has rethought each bar of the music leading into the “Ode to Joy.”
“What makes Beethoven so special is that everything has a purpose,” says Honeck. “The melody starts from piano” — in the sense of “quietly, softly” — “creating a long journey until the full, joyful song.”

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria catches some air during the FIS Freestyle Ski Cross And Snowboard Cross World Championships Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Cross Qualifications in Idre Fjall, Sweden
CREDIT: NISSE SCHMIDT/AGENCE ZOOM

A staff member at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh clears snow from the Queen Mother’s Garden
CREDIT: KATIELEE ARROWSMITH/SWNS

A cat strolls through incense sticks drying at a home-industry factory, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia
CREDIT: WILLY KURNIAWAN/REUTERS

Lucile Randon, who assumed the name of Sister Andre in 1944, has just survived coronavirus, and is now looking forward to her 117th birthday on Thursday.
CREDIT:  NICHOLAS TUCAT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for February 10^th , 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31437.80	+61.97
		+0.20%
S&P 500	3903.88	-1.35
		-0.03%
NASDAQ	13972.534	-35.163 -0.25%
TSX	18457.78	+49.16
		+0.27%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29562.93	+57.00
		+0.19%
HANG SENG	30038.72	+562.53
		+1.91%
SENSEX	51309.39	-19.69
		-0.04%
FTSE 100*	6524.36	-7.20 -0.11%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.989	.998
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.574	1.582
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1225	1.1568
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9074	1.9478

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.78749	0.78778
US $	1.26985	1.26939
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53892	0.64981
US $	1.21189	0.82516

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1839.60	1835.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	58.68	58.40

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1938, “Fannie Mae” was born, as the National Mortgage Association of Washington was created as a subsidiary of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. Its mission: to buy and sell home mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, in order to create a liquid market for mortgage debt that would encourage lenders to continue making home loans.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities gained for an eighth session Wednesday, their longest rally since November 2019, as cannabis stocks surged. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed 0.3% higher after briefly trading in the red. Marijuana stocks led the charge while energy and tech also gained. Oil extended its longest winning streak in two years in New York as a decline in U.S. crude inventories further showcased how global supplies are shrinking. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. plans to raise at least $7.5 billion for a new climate-focused fund, as the Canadian investment firm builds out an ESG business led by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $11.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,842.46 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.2703 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield edged lower to 0.989%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the eighth day, climbing 0.3 percent, or 49.16 to 18,457.78 in Toronto. Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 6 of 11 sectors gained; 116 of 220 shares rose, while 102 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 21.3 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 4 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.4 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 10, 2021 and 65.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.4 on a trailing basis and 17.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.85t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 13.93 percent
compared with 13.93 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.56 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 26.3036| 1.2| 13/8
Information Technology | 24.7379| 1.2| 3/7
Health Care | 22.1798| 6.5| 7/2
Materials | 11.3722| 0.5| 27/24
Real Estate | 3.2451| 0.6| 21/5
Consumer Staples | 0.2906| 0.0| 6/5
Communication Services | -0.5826| -0.1| 3/3
Utilities | -2.1963| -0.2| 8/8
Consumer Discretionary | -3.6494| -0.5| 6/7
Financials | -12.5110| -0.2| 12/14
Industrials | -20.0280| -0.9| 10/19
US
By Claire Ballentine and Olivia Raimonde
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks headed for a second straight drop while Treasury yields dipped after a tame inflation reading raised worries that short-term economic growth remains lackluster. Technology shares led the declines, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed. The 10-year Treasury yield fell back below 1.15% after the core consumer price index was unchanged last month. Stocks started the day at an all-time high on speculation the weak reading on prices meant growth could accelerate without bringing destabilizing inflation. The CPI data are part of an intensifying debate in financial markets over the course of inflation. Despite the muted January figure, investors continue to worry that price pressures are set to increase in the months ahead as Congress passes an aid bill and more vaccinations spur consumer spending. “The stock market has seen a strong rally over the past six trading days, so I think it’s just using the inflation data as an excuse to take a breather,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. Twitter Inc. climbed after reporting a jump in revenue.
Lyft Inc. rallied as the co-founder said the ride-hailing company will “absolutely” turn a quarterly profit this year. European shares edged lower, while stocks in Asia gained. Outside of equities, the moves were relatively muted. Oil prices climbed. The dollar turned lower following the inflation report. Surging Inflation May Force Fed to Resort to Yield Curve-Control Elsewhere, platinum rallied to a six-year high on expectations it will benefit from tight supplies and investment demand. Bitcoin slipped below $45,000. Yields on the 30-year Treasury were holding just below 2% after crossing that threshold earlier this week.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on a webinar Wednesday.
* Lunar New Year public holidays begin in nations across Asia, with China breaking for a week.
* Bank of Russia’s policy decision comes Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.4% as of 12:05 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 1.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.
* The euro added 0.1% to $1.2134.
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3844.
* The Japanese yen slipped 0.1% to 104.68 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 1.14%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries was unchanged at 0.11%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to -0.44%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed two basis points to 0.48%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.6% to $58.73 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.1% to $1,836.45 an ounce.
–With assistance from Anchalee Worrachate.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal.  My strength lies solely in my tenacity. -Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.  Go to article »
February  9, 1972 ~British government declares state of emergency after month-long coal miners’ strike.

Carole King, songwriter, b. 1942

Scientists visit very old cave paintings, find an even older fossil. (h/t Ellen Kominers) 

You should try a ‘Shultz hour’
When George Shultz — who died Saturday at 100 — was secretary of state under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, he developed a weekly ritual. He closed the door to his office and sat down with a pen and a pad of paper. For the next hour, Shultz tried to clear his mind and think about big ideas, rather than the minutiae of government work.
Only two people could interrupt him, he told his secretary: “My wife or the president.”
Shultz told me that story when I interviewed him a few years ago, and it has stuck with me, because it’s even more useful advice today than it was four decades ago. These days, we are constantly interrupted by minutiae, via alerts and text messages. They can make it impossible to carve out time to think through difficult problems in new ways or come up with creative ideas.
Letting your mind wander, Sandi Mann, a British psychologist, has said, “makes us more creative, better at problem-solving, better at coming up with creative ideas.” The Dutch have a word for this concept: niksen, or the art of doing nothing. (And here’s a GQ interview in which the journalist Manoush Zomorodi argues that boredom could open the mind to creativity, problem-solving and more ambitious life goals.)
Shultz’s biggest accomplishment in government was precisely such a fresh idea: a recognition — which most other Reagan advisers lacked — that Mikhail Gorbachev was serious about reforming the Soviet Union.
As Amos Tversky, a pathbreaking psychologist, said, “You waste years by not being able to waste hours.” –NY Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Kraken house float, on Memphis St., in Lakeview, is one of thousands in the New Orleans area decorated in celebration of Mardi Gras in Louisiana, USA
CREDIT: KATHLEEN FLYNN/REUTERS

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is lit up in red with an slogan reading in Arabic, “Mission accomplished” as the UAE’s “Al-Amal” — Arabic for “Hope” — probe successfully enters Mars’ orbit, making history as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission
CREDIT: GLUSEPPE CACACE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

An early morning swimmer plays with the snow at the beach in Thorpe End, Essex, as bitterly cold winds from Storm Darcy continue to grip much of the nation
CREDIT: VICTORIA JONES/PA

A resident clears the sidewalk in front of her front door of snow in Wernigerode, Germany
CREDIT: MATTHIAS BEIN/AP
Market Closes for February 9^th , 2021

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31375.83	-9.93
		-0.03%
S&P 500	3911.23	-4.36
		-0.11%
NASDAQ	14007.699	+20.057 +0.14%
TSX	18408.62	+78.36
		+0.43%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29505.93	+117.43
		+0.40%
HANG SENG	29476.19	+156.72
		+0.53%
SENSEX	51329.08	-19.69
		-0.04%
FTSE 100*	6531.56	+8.03 +0.12%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.998	1.012
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.582	1.588
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1568	1.1619
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9478	1.9442

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.78778	0.78507
US $	1.26939	1.27378
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53828	0.65008
US $	1.21182	0.82520

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1835.25	1802.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	58.40	57.97

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1585, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierborse) was established.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained for a seventh straight session Tuesday, with Canopy Growth Corp.’s earnings sparking a rally in marijuana companies. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.4%, with health-care and information technology leading the way. Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF jumped 13%, most since February 2018. Shopify Inc. rose 6.1%, leading tech stocks higher after expanding Shop Pay to merchants selling on Facebook and Instagram. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin asked President Biden to reconsider his decision to cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline and warned against other energy policy moves that could hinder “safety, jobs and energy security.”
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.90 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,837 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.3% to C$1.2699 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 1.5 basis points to 0.997%

By Bloomberg Automation:
    (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the seventh day, climbing 0.4 percent, or 78.36 to 18,408.62 in Toronto. Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 4 of 11 sectors gained; 87 of 220 shares rose, while 128 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.1 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest increase, rising 24.5 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 4.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 9, 2021 and 64.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.1 on a trailing basis and 17.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.84t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.93 percent compared with
14.03 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.41 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 77.0216| 3.7| 3/7
Health Care | 26.1647| 8.3| 7/2
Financials | 7.7619| 0.1| 14/12
Industrials | 6.2682| 0.3| 13/15
Consumer Discretionary | -0.3644| -0.1| 7/6
Real Estate | -0.5790| -0.1| 7/18
Communication Services | -3.0640| -0.3| 3/3
Consumer Staples | -3.8838| -0.6| 7/3
Utilities | -5.1773| -0.6| 5/11
Materials | -11.8391| -0.5| 12/38
Energy | -13.9711| -0.7| 9/13
US
By Olivia Raimonde
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks halted a six-day winning streak as investors debated whether commitments by the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration to let the economy run hot will spark destabilizing inflation. The S&P 500 Index edged lower from an all-time high after a 5.4% surge this month fueled by signs the Biden administration intends to pass a sizable aid bill while the central bank promises to keep rates pinned near zero. The Nasdaq 100 Index  eked out a gain, while small caps notched the longest rally since December 2019. Treasuries advanced and the dollar fell for a third straight session. Stretched valuations are giving investors pause as they cheer advancing vaccination efforts, rising stimulus prospects and a slowdown in coronavirus infections across the globe.
With inflation expectations near the highest since 2013, questions have also begun to be raised about when the so-called reflation trade in bonds could start to threaten equities. “We are getting to the point where we have to start worrying about the risk of how do we pull back on that stimulus, will it cause the economy to overheat, are these valuations becoming too expensive,” Saira Malik, Nuveen head of global equities, said on Bloomberg TV. “That is something we are going to be grappling with as the year goes on.” Elsewhere, Brent oil hovered around $60 a barrel on signs the global market is tightening and demand is improving. Bitcoin pared an earlier jump to a record after Tesla Inc. bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency.

Here are some key events coming up:
* Earnings season continues with companies including Cisco Systems, Societe Generale and L’Oreal.
* EIA crude oil inventory report comes Wednesday.
* Sweden will set monetary policy on Wednesday.
* Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on a webinar Wednesday.
* The U.S. consumer price index comes Wednesday.
* Lunar New Year public holidays begin in nations across Asia, with China breaking for a week.
* Bank of Russia’s policy decision comes Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.4%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.5%.
* The euro advanced 0.6% to $1.2118.
* The British pound gained 0.5% to $1.3809.
* The onshore yuan strengthened 0.2% to 6.436 per dollar.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.6% to 104.57 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 1.15%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries rose to 0.115%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was flat near -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell to 0.461%.
* Japan’s 10-year yield advanced less than one basis point to 0.073%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $58.32 a barrel.
* Brent crude added 0.9% to $61.12 a barrel.
* Gold futures strengthened 0.1% to $1,836.10 an ounce.
–With assistance from Anil Varma.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 8, 1672 ~ Isaac Newton reads first optics paper before Royal Society in London.
1971 NASDAQ, the world’s first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day. Go to article »

Jules Verne, author, b.1828.
Lana Turner, actor, b. 1921.
James Dean, actor b. 1931.

A 3D-printed house is for sale in New York, and it’s the first of its kind.  Start saving up: It’s almost $300,000. 

Harvard astronomer argues that alien vessel paid us a visit.

Last fall, astronomers made the blockbuster claim that they had discovered compelling evidence of phosphine, pointing to the presence of life floating in the clouds above the second planet from the sun.
Even after lowering their estimates of how much phosphine may be present, the researchers are still certain of their findings. Many of their peers, however, remain doubtful, creating a stalemate until further observations can be made.  “There’s nothing you can point to that says, ‘Oh, yeah, we absolutely see phosphine on Venus,’” said Bryan Butler of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M. But he added that the matter was not settled. “You know, it’s tantalizing,” he said.-NY Times.

Amanda Gorman read a new poem before the game.

Admire stark landscapes in Louisiana, where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Hear new tracks by H.E.R., Nile Rodgers and Cardi B
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
A commercial aircraft appearing like a small, black stamp on the surface of the Sun
CREDIT: ANDREW MCCARTHY/SWNS
A person walks through a snow-covered vineyard at the Mainschleife area near Nordheim, Germany.
CREDIT: KARL-JOSEF HILDENBRAND/DPA VIA AP
A bus drives along frozen trees in Oberreifenberg near Frankfurt, Germany
CREDIT: MICHAEL PROBST
Market Closes for February 8^th , 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31385.76	+237.52
		+0.76%
S&P 500	3915.59	+28.76
		+0.74%
NASDAQ	13987.641	+131.345 +0.95%
TSX	18330.26	+194.36
		+1.07%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29388.50	+609.31
		+2.12%
HANG SENG	29319.47	+30.79
		+0.11%
SENSEX	51348.77	+617.14
		+1.22%
FTSE 100*	6523.53	+34.20 +0.53%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.012	1.000
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.588	1.588
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1619	1.1635
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9442	1.9711

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.78507	.78387
US $	1.27378	1.27572
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53538	0.65131
US $	1.20538	0.82962

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1802.95	1785.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	57.97	56.85

Market Commentary: NASDAQ’s fiftieth anniversary.
     On this day in 1971, after nearly a decade of preparation, the Nasdaq market opened for stock trading, as the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system first displayed the median price for more than 2,500 “over-the-counter” securities. The Nasdaq Composite Index was set at an initial value of 100.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a record high Monday, gaining for a sixth-straight session. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 1%, with ten of eleven sectors higher. Utilities were the only laggard. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF rose 7.3% to its highest level since September 13. Oil in London rose above $60 a barrel for the first time in more than a year in a rally that’s dividing the world’s top oil trading houses. Ontario will gradually lift stay-at-home orders across the province, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, and will allow limited in-person shopping at retailers even in zones with the most Covid-19 cases.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $1,830.07 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to C$1.2746 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 1.4 basis points to 1.014%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the sixth day, climbing 1.1 percent, or 194.36 to 18,330.26 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.5 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 15.8 percent. Today, 158 of 220 shares rose, while 61 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 3.8 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 8, 2021 and 64.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.6 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27 on a trailing basis and 17.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.81t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.03 percent compared with
13.73 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.18 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 61.3799| 3.1| 8/2
Materials | 41.7463| 1.8| 44/7
Financials | 31.7742| 0.6| 19/6
Energy | 30.0894| 1.4| 21/1
Health Care | 15.9755| 5.3| 7/2
Communication Services | 4.5446| 0.5| 7/0
Industrials | 4.0079| 0.2| 16/13
Consumer Staples | 2.8582| 0.4| 9/2
Real Estate | 1.5335| 0.3| 12/14
Consumer Discretionary | 1.1223| 0.2| 8/5
Utilities | -0.6556| -0.1| 7/9
US
By Adam Haigh and Anchalee Worrachate
(Bloomberg) — Rising prospects for a robust federal spending package, coupled with a slowdown in virus infection rates, sent U.S. stocks higher for the sixth straight session. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.7% to an all-time high, spurred by fresh signs the Biden administration is committed to passing a sizable aid bill to address unemployment. An increase in vaccination numbers boosted optimism that the economy will take off later this year. Treasuries started the day lower, but mostly erased losses on speculation recent declines had gone too far with the latest economic data showing some weakness. Commodities prices pointed to renewed optimism in the global economic recovery. Brent oil advanced above $60 a barrel for the first time in more than a year, while copper climbed for a second day and iron ore prices rebounded.        Bitcoin jumped to a record after Tesla Inc. bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency.
“As people feel safer, investors can expect the economy to experience a rebound that should contribute to revenue and earnings growth as the economy reflates,” John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, wrote to clients. In Europe, Italian equities outperformed as Mario Draghi set about forming a new national government. Dialog Semiconductor Plc shares jumped after the company agreed to be acquired by Renesas Electronics Corp. In Japan, the Topix index ended Monday at the highest since 1991 amid reports the government may lift its state of emergency early for some areas. Investors are taking comfort from the continued rollout of vaccines and data suggesting a declining trend in infections in countries like the U.S. A Citigroup Inc. gauge of global risk aversion dropped to its lowest since the pandemic first roiled markets last year.
Weaker-than-forecast U.S. jobs data Friday reinforced economic risks as the pandemic lingers, but also highlighted the case for further stimulus. “The vaccine roll-out programs certainly suggest that the reflation trade has legs but central banks seem to want to ensure that expectations are kept in check,” Jane Foley, head of foreign exchange strategy at Rabobank, said on Bloomberg TV. “This suggests a choppy ride.” President Joe Biden is pushing for a mammoth $1.9 trillion economic relief measure. Some commentators, such as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, have raised questions about the size of the package and risks such as much faster inflation.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Earnings season continues with companies including Honda
Motor, Cisco Systems, Societe Generale and L’Oreal.
* EIA crude oil inventory report comes Wednesday.
* Sweden will set monetary policy on Wednesday.
* Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on a webinar Wednesday.
* The U.S. consumer price index comes Wednesday.
* Lunar New Year public holidays begin in nations across Asia, with China breaking for a week.
* Bank of Russia’s policy decision comes Friday.

These are the main moves in markets
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index increased 0.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 0.3%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.
* The euro was little changed at $1.2051.
* The onshore yuan strengthened 0.3% to 6.4486 per dollar.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 105.21 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 1.17%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries climbed less than one basis point to 0.11%.
* The 30-year rate fell one basis point to 1.96%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.47%.
* Japan’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.071%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2% to $58 a barrel.
* Brent crude gained 2.1% to $60.60 a barrel.
* Gold futures strengthened 1% to $1,831.98 an ounce.
–With assistance from Saket Sundria.
Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent
instantly recognizes genius. –Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

February 5, 1969 – US population reaches 200 million.
1988 – Panamanian military leader Gen. Manuel Noriega was indicted on bribery and drug trafficking charges in Florida.  Go to article »

Long-haul travel might not resume until 2023.
Childhood diet has a lifelong impact.

Super Bowl Sunday!
Tom Brady, who’s 43 years old, is the most successful quarterback in N.F.L. history. But if any player has a chance to match him someday, it’s Patrick Mahomes, Brady’s 25-year-old counterpart in this weekend’s Super Bowl. “The sport’s biggest legend is about to face its biggest legend in the making,” The Ringer’s Danny Heifetz wrote. -The New York Times.

Super Bowl LV will be a bonanza for gambling companies this weekend.  Chiefs or Bucs, who ya got? 

from The Late Night Hosts:
“So he’s now out of the actors’ union. That’s too bad — I was positive he was going to be the next James Bond.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“Meanwhile, Melania heard and was like, ‘Um, Donald, while we’re on the subject of leaving unions.’” — JIMMY FALLON

 

February is Black History Month, and every day we’re highlighting Black pioneers in American history. -CNN  Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights icon, 1911-2015   Robinson was known as the “the matriarch of the voting rights movement.” A shocking photo of her being beaten by White police officers during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, horrified the nation and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. It also showed Robinson’s true grit. As far back as the 1930s, she was registering Black voters in Alabama, an act that could have cost her life. In 1964, she became the first African American woman to run for Congress in Alabama.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A stockbreeder walks with his flock through the snow in the Gurpinar district of Van, Turkey
CREDIT: MESUT VAROL/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

Joe and Luke Furguson have been fossil hunting since they were children and have an impressive collection, but this latest find is their best yet. They found this 60lb humerus bone, thought to be from a straight-tusked elephant or mammoth, near Brighstone Beach on the Isle of Wight after weather eroded a cliff
CREDIT: PAUL JACOBS

Sparkling snowboarding suits, tutus and headgear are all created by the LED clothing company SER Brothers. Creator Egor Krukovich
CREDIT: SER BROTHERS / SWNS.COM
Market Closes for February 5^th, 2021 

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31148.24	+92.38
		+0.30%
S&P 500	3886.83	+15.09
		+0.57%
NASDAQ	13856.296	+78.553 +0.57%
TSX	18135.90	+93.93
		+0.52%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28779.19	+437.24
		+1.54%
HANG SENG	29288.68	+175.18
		+0.60%
SENSEX	50731.63	+117.34
		+0.23%
FTSE 100*	6489.33	-14.39 -0.22%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.000	.963
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.588	1.544
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1635	1.1392
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9711	1.9383

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	.78387	.77973
US $	1.27572	1.28249
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53697	.65063
US $	1.20478	.83002

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1785.90	1835.45
Oil
WTI Crude Future	56.85	56.23

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1637, “Tulipmania” hit its peak in the Netherlands, with the price of the rare Witte Croonen tulip bulb reaching 1,345 guilders per half-pound, up 2,506% in 33 days. Over the next five years, the bulbs lost an annual average of 76% of their value, until they fetched only 37.5 guilders in 1641.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets climbed to a fresh record on Friday, with materials and tech stocks leading the way. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.5% in Toronto. The benchmark advanced 4.6% in the past five days, the biggest weekly gain since April 2020. Meanwhile, the newest wave of Covid lockdowns in Canada is having little impact outside close-contact sectors like retail, easing worries about spillover effects and long-term scarring from the restrictions.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.40 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $1,810.53 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.5% to C$1.2767 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 4 basis points to 0.997%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fifth day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 93.93 to 18,135.90 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.8 percent. Eldorado Gold Corp. had the largest increase, rising 12.0 percent. Today, 141 of 220 shares rose, while 76 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 4.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended April 10
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 5, 2021 and 62.3 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.8 on a trailing basis and 17.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.79t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.73 percent compared with
13.68 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.84 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 43.3307| 1.9| 44/6
Information Technology | 28.6214| 1.5| 6/4
Industrials | 12.8779| 0.6| 16/13
Financials | 9.9726| 0.2| 18/7
Energy | 6.3769| 0.3| 16/6
Utilities | 1.7523| 0.2| 9/7
Real Estate | 1.6605| 0.3| 13/12
Consumer Discretionary | 0.4359| 0.1| 8/5
Communication Services | -1.5215| -0.2| 5/2
Health Care | -2.1584| -0.7| 4/5
Consumer Staples | -7.4229| -1.1| 2/9
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended their weekly rally after weaker-than-forecast U.S. jobs data bolstered the case for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.  The dollar fell. The House adopted the budget resolution that cleared the Senate early Friday, paving the way to pass a stimulus bill in coming weeks with only Democratic votes. The S&P 500 climbed to another record in its best week since November as all of its major groups but tech rose. The surge in GameStop Corp. after Robinhood Markets Inc. removed limits on buying the stock did little to repair the video-game retailer’s weekly plunge of about 80%. Two-year Treasury note yields matched their record low amid a drop across shorter-dated rates. The recovery in the U.S. labor market disappointed for a second month as modest job growth highlighted the persistently difficult prospects for millions of unemployed Americans.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 49,000 after a downwardly revised 227,000 December drop, strengthening the case for another relief package. President Biden gave the strongest indication yet he’ll push for stimulus without Republican support, saying Friday’s weak economic data show the risk of doing “too little.” “The market is going to be in a bad news is good news scenario — bad news is temporary and likely to be met with additional support,” said Steve Chiavarone, portfolio manager and equity strategist at Federated Hermes. “Many investors would have a very hard time selling a market when they know vaccination is coming and they know additional stimulus is coming. It’s just really hard to sell that.” In corporate news, Pinterest Inc. surged as the digital scrapbooking and search company reported sales that topped estimates. In the meantime, Peloton Interactive Inc. sank after saying said it can’t keep up with surging demand for its exercise machines and warning that profit will be squeezed.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was unchanged.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.9%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.6%.
* The euro climbed 0.7% to $1.2046.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 105.40 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1.17%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased four basis points to 0.482%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.4% to $57.03 a barrel.
* Gold rose 1% to $1,811.97 an ounce.
* Silver added 2.1% to $26.90 per ounce.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Robert Brand, Cecile Gutscher, Claire Ballentine, Sophie Caronello and Nancy Moran.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Too bad ninety percent of the politicians
give the other ten percent a bad reputation.  -Henry Kissinger, b. 1923

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 4, 2004 – Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room.

1977 The album “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac was released. Go to article »

Archaeologists unearth Egyptian mummies with golden tongues.  Put those back! This is how horror movies start! 

Archaeologists in Israel find purple fabric from the time of King David. (h/t Ellen Kominers) 

Five minutes to make you love string quartets.

And finally, wisdom from an internet prophet. 
You may never have heard of Michael Goldhaber, but the former theoretical physicist saw the dominance of the internet coming in the 1980s.
He helped frame the idea of the “attention economy,” which has expanded, writes the Times Opinion columnist Charlie Warzel, to the point that “any discussion of power is now, ultimately, a conversation about attention and how we extract it, wield it, waste it, abuse it, sell it, lose it and profit from it.”
Now 78, Mr. Goldhaber sees examples ranging from the Trump presidency to the welter of influencers and news outlets that, surrounding Jan. 6, amplified increasingly dangerous conspiracy theories on platforms designed to encourage outrage: “It felt like an expression of a world in which everyone is desperately seeking their own audience and fracturing reality in the process.”
It’s only going to accelerate, he said, so why not practice a little more intent in allocating our attention?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Gardeners clear a path through the first snowdrops of the season at English Heritage’s Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Waldon, Essex
CREDIT: JOE GIDDENS/PA
Russell and Michelle Hoyer try to find their driveway under the snow in Mt. Arlington, New jersey, USA.
CREDIT: SETH WINIG/AP
Conservator Keith Barley MBE works on large stained glass windows from All Saints North Street Church at Barley Studio in York. The windows of All Saints North Street Church, York, date to the 14th and 15th centuries, and comprise some of the finest medieval glass in the country
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA

Market Closes for February 4^th, 2021 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31055.86	+332.26
		+1.08%
S&P 500	3871.74	+41.57
		+1.09%
NASDAQ	13777.743	+167.200 +1.23%
TSX	18041.97	+126.06
		+0.70%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28341.95	-304.55
		-1.06%
HANG SENG	28341.95	-304.55
		-1.06%
SENSEX	50614.29	+358.54
		+0.71%
FTSE 100*	6503.72	-4.10 -0.06%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.963	.949
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.544	1.520
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1392	1.1374
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9383	1.9252

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	.77973	.78237
US $	1.28249	1.27817
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53459	.65164
US $	1.19657	.83572

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1835.45	1833.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	56.23	55.69

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1863, the Stockholm Stock Exchange opened for trading. The first day’s volume: 22 trades for a total of 14,105 Swedish dalers (the currency of the time).
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose for a fourth day, closing within a whisker of the Jan. 8 record high, as technology and consumer stocks soared. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.7% to 18,041.97, just shy of all-time high of 18,042.07. The move was led by Canada Goose, which was the best-performing stock on the index. The parka maker rose 22% on Thursday after revenue and earnings for its key quarter came in well above analysts’ estimates. Meanwhile, job losses in Canada probably slowed last month in another sign the nation’s economy is handling the current wave of lockdowns better than it did last year.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.60 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 2.2% to $1,793.57 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.3% to C$1.2824 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose to 0.966%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.7 percent, or 126.06 to 18,041.97 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 8. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.4 percent. Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest increase, rising 22.4 percent. Today, 129 of 220 shares rose, while 85 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 4.1 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 6
* The index advanced 3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC
Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 4, 2021 and 61.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.5 on a trailing basis and 17.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.77t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.68 percent compared with
13.56 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.62 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 44.9581| 0.8| 21/5
Information Technology | 39.1733| 2.0| 6/4
Energy | 19.1198| 0.9| 18/4
Consumer Staples | 8.5728| 1.3| 8/3
Communication Services | 7.5409| 0.9| 3/3
Industrials | 7.0249| 0.3| 20/9
Consumer Discretionary | 6.7525| 1.0| 9/4
Utilities | 4.3358| 0.5| 7/8
Real Estate | 3.8637| 0.7| 20/5
Health Care | -2.3118| -0.8| 3/6
Materials | -12.9621| -0.6| 14/34
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended their rally into a fourth day as traders parsed through a flurry of corporate results amid signs the U.S. labor market may be gradually improving. The dollar rose. The S&P 500 climbed to a record, led by banks and tech shares, as the Russell 2000 Index jumped 2%. EBay Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. surged on upbeat forecasts, while Netflix Inc. gained after raising the price of its service in Japan. Meanwhile, GameStop Corp. plunged as day traders flocked to other stocks like drug developers, and Nordstrom Inc. slid after announcing plans to win back customers — a sign that Wall Street may have expected a more comprehensive overhaul. A widely watched segment of the Treasury yield curve steepened to levels last seen in 2015. The bull market in U.S. stocks remains on “solid footing” as the rebound in activity and corporate profits alongside an accommodative Federal Reserve create a supportive environment for equities, according to UBS Group AG.
A report Thursday showed jobless claims fell to the lowest since November, and the next major update on the economy comes on Friday – with analysts forecasting the labor market added about 100,000 jobs in January after a 140,000 drop in December. Selected high-frequency data, such as weekly consumer-confidence readings, also point to some strengthening. “We certainly seem to have shifted our focus back to fundamentals,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. “The virus news is getting incrementally better at the very same time that the earnings season and economic data seem to be showing some improvement. Markets are actually focusing on what we’re supposed to be focused on and less concerned about the machinations of getting fiscal policy out and what’s going on in Reddit-land. ”The Reddit fueled rumble in the U.S. stock market may have heightened fears of another burst of volatility, according to options data tracked by Bloomberg. Over the last two weeks, the Cboe Volatility Index’s futures curve has shifted markedly higher, showing a pronounced peak in April before a gradual decline. The move suggests investors expect more volatility in the short-term amid concerns about extended valuations, the pace of the vaccine rollout and the impact of retail-trading activity.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 1.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%.
* The euro dipped 0.6% to $1.1965.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 105.55 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 1.14%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped seven basis points to 0.44%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $56.26 a barrel.
* Gold lost 2.1% to $1,794.80 an ounce.
* Silver fell 2% to $26.35 per ounce.
–With assistance from Vivien Lou Chen, Adam Haigh, Cecile Gutscher, Yakob Peterseil, Cormac Mullen and Claire Ballentine.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you
if you realized how seldom they do. -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  1971 –  Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell landed on the lunar surface during the third successful manned mission to the moon. Go to article »

1947 – Coldest North American temperature recorded -81℉, Yukon Territories, Canada.
Gertrude Stein, writer, b. 1874.  “A rose is a rose is a rose.”
Simone Weil, mystic, b. 1909. “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”

On the  Impeachment, the Late Night Hosts:
“After that, Trump’s legal team filed a brief that claims that he isn’t responsible. It wasn’t that hard to write. His lawyers just copied and pasted his defense from the last impeachment: Control-F ‘Ukraine,’ replace with ‘riot.’” — JIMMY FALLON

“On the very first page of their first legal filing, they wrote, ‘to the honorable members of the Unites States Senate.’ They misspelled ‘United States.’ And we’re off!” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“There was actually a typo on the first page of the Trump brief, but I’m sure it was a long, complicated legal term. Nope, it’s just — just the name of our country, that’s it.” — JIMMY FALLON

“Yes, the ‘Unites States Senate,’ both Republicarnts and Democrabs.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The SpaceX Starship SN9 explodes into a fireball after its high altitude test flight from test facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, U.S
CREDIT: GENE BLEVINS/REUTERS
A woman takes a selfie under festive decorations for the upcoming Lunar New Year outside a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand
CREDIT: MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Well-known ice-cream seller Pasquale Marucci has a funeral with a convoy of ten ice-cream vans in  Eastleigh, Hampshire
CREDIT: PAUL JACOBS
Cawdor Estate near Nairn in Scotland posted this photo of snow drifts higher than their Toyota Hilux
CREDIT: MIKE MERRITT

Market Closes for February 3^rd, 2021 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	30723.60	+36.12
		+0.12%
S&P 500	3830.17	+3.86
		+0.10%
NASDAQ	13610.543	-2.234 -0.02%
TSX	17915.91	+41.42
		+0.23%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28646.50	+284.33
		+1.00%
HANG SENG	29307.46	+58.76
		+0.20%
SENSEX	50255.75	+458.03
		+0.92%
FTSE 100*	6507.82	-8.83 -0.14%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.949	.905
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.520	1.482
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.1374	1.0963
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.9252	1.8694

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	.78237	.78210
US $	1.27817	1.27861
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53893	.64980
US $	1.20401	.83055

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1833.10	1862.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	55.69	54.76

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1964, a direct feed to the stock ticker at the New York Stock Exchange was extended overseas for the first time, as Switzerland got a real-time link to follow share prices in New York.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets extended their gains into third day, helped by outperformance in pot stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.2% in Toronto, bringing its climb in the last three days to 3.3%. Marijuana stocks in the health care sector led the gains after GW Pharmaceuticals agreed to be acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals for $7.2 billion in cash and stock. Aphria, Canopy Growth and Cronos were among the best performers on the TSX. Meanwhile, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri said the central bank’s research suggests any adjustments to the inflation targeting mandate should be incremental. “Maybe
there’s an opportunity to overshoot the target a little bit or tolerate an overshoot if we want to be aggressive in reducing the risk of being at the effective lower bound,” Schembri said. “We might be willing to tolerate a small overshoot or, like the Fed has done, actually aim for an overshoot. And that’s a question we are pondering right now.”
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $11.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,833.83 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was flat at C$1.2782 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 4 basis points to 0.948%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.2 percent, or 41.42 to 17,915.91 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 21. Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 6 of 11 sectors gained; 118 of 220 shares rose, while 100 fell. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.6 percent. ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. had the largest increase, rising 14.1 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 3.1 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.8 percent below its 52-week high on
Jan. 8, 2021 and 60.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.8 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.8 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.4 on a trailing basis and 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.77t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.56 percent compared with
13.58 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.44 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 35.6595| 1.7| 20/1
Health Care | 15.6183| 5.4| 6/3
Materials | 13.4173| 0.6| 33/18
Financials | 13.3824| 0.3| 18/7
Consumer Discretionary | 5.6925| 0.8| 9/4
Consumer Staples | 1.1298| 0.2| 3/8
Communication Services | -0.4708| -0.1| 4/3
Utilities | -2.4540| -0.3| 8/8
Real Estate | -5.1252| -0.9| 3/23
Industrials | -15.3756| -0.7| 10/19
Information Technology | -20.0477| -1.0| 4/6
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks almost wiped out their advance as a drop in technology and retail shares dragged down the Nasdaq 100. Treasuries retreated. Oil climbed. The S&P 500 closed with a small gain following its biggest two-day rally in almost three months. Energy and financial shares outpaced tech even after Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. hit a record on stellar results, while Amazon.com Inc. slumped. Banks climbed as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley issued bullish calls on the industry. GameStop Corp., the poster child for Redditors looking to squeeze short sellers, and movie- theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. rebounded following Tuesday’s plunge.
After the close of regular trading, Qualcomm Inc. slumped as the biggest maker of chips that connect smartphones to wireless networks reported disappointing revenue. EBay Inc. climbed as profit topped Wall Street estimates. A widely watched segment of the Treasury yield curve reached its steepest level in almost five years even as the U.S. decided not to increase auction sizes for long-maturity notes and bonds at next week’s quarterly refunding sales. Data showed companies added more jobs than forecast in January, while growth at service providers accelerated. The scattered signs of a pickup in activity come as President Joe Biden tries to win congressional passage of a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said stock prices reflect optimism about the economic recovery. “There has been a ton of noise in the stock market these past few weeks, so it’s encouraging to see solid economic reads,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial Corp. “There may be signs of overextension when it comes to single stocks, but under the surface there is an economy regaining serious momentum.” Normalcy has yet to return to the Cboe Volatility Index even after its biggest two-day decline in about three years.
Tuesday’s close was 31% higher than the average since VIX calculations began in 1990, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There hasn’t been a below-average close in about a year. VIX futures are indicating that “volatility will remain elevated for many months,” Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research LLC, wrote Tuesday in a report. Elsewhere, crude climbed as OPEC+ said it will keep pushing to quickly clear the oil surplus left behind by the pandemic — a bullish signal for prices that have already surged to a one-year high.
These are some key events coming up:
* The Bank of England sets rates on Thursday and an Indian central bank policy decision is due Friday.
* The U.S. January payrolls report is due Friday, providing a first look at hiring in 2021.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 advanced 0.1% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
* The euro dipped 0.1% to $1.2035.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 105.02 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1.13%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed three basis points to -0.46%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped two basis points to 0.371%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 2% to $55.85 a barrel.
* Gold lost 0.2% to $1,833.85 an ounce.
* Silver rose 0.6% to $26.83 per ounce.
–With assistance from Andres Guerra Luz, Adam Haigh, Yakob Peterseil, David Wilson, Claire Ballentine and Kamaron Leach.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom,
one must observe. -Marilyn Vos Savant, b. 1946.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Ground Hog Day.
Happy Groundhog Day! Will we get more winter? Will we get an early spring? Will we ever spell “Punxsutawney Phil” correctly on the first try? –CNN.
Imbolc: Wiccan Feast of Torches.
Candlemas

James Joyce, author, b. 1882:  Mistakes are the portals of discovery. -James Joyce.
Ayn Rand, author, b. 1905: The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
                                       When I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is.― Ayn Rand.
W.H. Auden, poet, b. 1907. How should we like it were stars to burn
                                        With a passion for us we could not return?
                                        If equal affection cannot be,
                                        Let the more loving one be me.

On Feb. 2, 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.  Go to article »

Welcoming the year of the Ox:  If there’s one occasion to prepare dumplings from scratch, wrappers and all, it’s the Lunar New Year, which starts Feb. 12. Everyday dumplings take on special significance for the holiday, symbolizing good fortune for the year ahead and assuring family unity.  The more immediate reward comes from the process of making them, writes our Food editor Genevieve Ko, who describes a therapeutic project “that lulls like rowing on a still lake.” Try her crisp dumplings, or tang yuan — chewy balls with black sesame filling that simmer in sweet ginger soup. –The NY Times.

The Late Night Hosts Weigh In on Trump’s Legal defense teams:
“Trump suddenly found himself without any legal representation, which is still a huge improvement over being represented by Rudy Giuliani.” — JAMES CORDEN

“Trump was furious — not that they quit, that he couldn’t fire them on Twitter.” — JIMMY FALLON

“A source close to the ex-president described it as a ‘mutual decision.’ Oh, totally mutual! ‘No, Carol did not divorce me — we divorced me. We also agreed that the lawn
was the perfect place for all my shirts.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

Colbert said, “the former president cruised some dark alleys of the legal world and scooped up two new lawyers,” Bruce Castor and David Schoen.
“Now these guys have a lot in common. When he was a Pennsylvania D.A. in 2005, Castor declined to prosecute Bill Cosby as part of a ‘secret agreement,’ although it is possible Castor did not know, and Cosby just dropped the secret agreement into his drink.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 135th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa
CREDIT: BARRY REEGER/AP
A train crosses Knaresborough Viaduct in North Yorkshire after snow fell overnight
CREDIT:DANNY LAWSON/PA
A couple walks over the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan
CREDIT: ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS
A surfer rides a wave off Ondarreta Beach at dawn in San Sebastian, Basque Country, northern Spain
CREDIT:JAVIER ETXEZARRETA/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Market Closes for February 2^nd, 2021 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	30687.48	+475.57
		+1.57%
S&P 500	3826.31	+52.45
		+1.39%
NASDAQ	13612.777	+209.382 +1.56%
TSX	17874.49	+182.04
		+1.03%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28362.17	+271.12
		+0.97%
HANG SENG	29248.70	+355.84
		+1.23%
SENSEX	49797.72	+1197.11
		+2.46%
FTSE 100*	6516.65	+50.23 +0.78%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.905	.884
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.482	1.468
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.0963	1.0792
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.8694	1.8518

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	.78210	.77787
US $	1.27861	1.28556
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53931	.64964
US $	1.20389	.83064

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1862.95	1863.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future	54.76	53.55

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1869, in the first warning sign of the coming Panic of 1869, a New York newspaper reported that an IRS auditor has discovered that trustees of several city churches had taken $2 million in ecclesiastical trust funds and used them to speculate in stocks, and several parishes had taken out mortgages on their church buildings to answer margin calls.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares climbed for the second day as pot stocks continued to outperformed after U.S. Democratic senators said they would pursue “comprehensive cannabis reform” in early 2021. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 1% in Toronto, led by cannabis health care stocks. Materials were the worst performers, as the buying frenzy that sent silver to an eight-year high stalled out. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to manufacture Novavax Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine in Canada, making it the first coronavirus shot that will be produced in the country.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $11.25 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1.3% to $1,835.85 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4% to C$1.2796 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose to 0.908%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite is rising for the second day, climbing 1.1 percent, or 199.2 to 17,891.65 in Toronto. In midday trading, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 10 of 11 sectors gained; 144 of 221 shares rose, while 73 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.6 percent. Cronos Group Inc. had the largest increase, rising 11.9 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 3.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 20 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9 percent below its 52-week high on Jan. 8, 2021 and 60.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.6 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.3 on a trailing basis and 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.74t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.65 percent compared with
13.42 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.26 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 74.9508| 4.0| 9/1
Financials | 71.9059| 1.4| 23/3
Industrials | 49.9108| 2.3| 27/2
Energy | 17.3113| 0.8| 15/5
Health Care | 14.5522| 5.3| 6/2
Utilities | 12.8803| 1.4| 14/2
Consumer Discretionary | 10.0730| 1.5| 11/2
Communication Services | 8.9926| 1.0| 7/0
Real Estate | 3.8777| 0.7| 22/3
Consumer Staples | 0.2549| 0.0| 3/8
Materials | -64.6626| -2.7| 7/45
US
By Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended their rally into a second day as the trading frenzy that fueled a surge in heavily shorted shares crumbled. Investors also sifted through a batch of corporate earnings. All major groups in the S&P 500 rose, with financial, industrial and retail companies leading the charge. Twenty-five out of the 30blue chips in the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced. United Parcel Service Inc. climbed as the courier reported a surge in profit, while Exxon Mobil Corp. was up on a pledge to safeguard dividends following its first annual loss in at least 40 years. Meanwhile, the speculative trades popular with Reddit crowds crumbled, with GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. tumbling at least 41% as silver sank from an eight-year high.
The collapse of those trades that roiled the stock market last month has coincided with a sharp reduction in short interest after bearish investors appeared to cover their positions. While some indicators show the battle between Redditors and hedge funds may not be over, analysts cited a sense of more stability and diminished concern over contagion from any retail bubble as reasons for the equity rebound. “There’s optimism brewing underneath,” said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors. “The fact that markets have cooled down a bit with the retail- trading frenzy, that’s giving a little bit of optimism.
Anytime there’s more stability to markets, there’s a breath of relief of all investors.” She also cited prospects for more fiscal stimulus as another reason for the positive mood. The Senate on Tuesday will begin a process that would let Democrats pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal without Republican votes, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. As stocks continued to push higher, Bank of America Corp. strategists came out with a warning about rising bullishness, saying that a sentiment indicator is close to hitting a “sell” signal — a mark last reached shortly before the financial crisis. Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. is growing concerned with elevated earnings expectations, noting that share prices may be ahead of themselves by about 10%.
These are some key events coming up:
* The EIA crude oil inventory report is due Wednesday.
* The Bank of England sets rates on Thursday, and an Indian central bank policy decision comes then too.
* The U.S. January payrolls report is due Friday, providing a first look at hiring in 2021.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 1.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.1%.
* The euro dipped 0.2% to $1.2036.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.1% to 105.04 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 1.10%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to -0.49%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to 0.349%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 2.3% to $54.77 a barrel.
* Gold lost 1.3% to $1,835.66 an ounce.
* Silver slid 8.9% to $26.47 per ounce.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Anchalee Worrachate, Cormac Mullen, Yakob Peterseil, Elena Popina and Vildana Hajric.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Humility makes great men twice honorable. –Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they’d been refused service. Go to article »
Check out what Melinda Gates is reading. She’s offering a glimpse at her bookshelf and talking about her new favorite.

Pandas enjoy snow. A lot.

A four-year-old girl found a dinosaur footprint on a Welsh beach, and it is being described as the “finest found in a decade” by experts.
Lily Wilder and her family were walking their dog in Barry when she spotted the fossilised footprint in the rocks. It’s believed to be around 220 million years old, and you can see it here.

It’s truly amazing to think that this Anglo-Saxon treasure trove, found in the outline of a huge 89ft-long ship, had been there for well over 1,000 years. Now the ship is set to sail again after restorers began rebuilding it from scratch.
Isn’t it remarkable to think of what is out there, connecting past to present and waiting to be rediscovered. Last year alone saw some major archaeological discoveries and I’m absolutely sure there will be more to come.

Organizers of the Nordic countries’ most important festival, the Goteborg Film Festival, decided to accentuate the pandemic’s sense of solitude as well as film’s ability to bring comfort by offering a chance for one person to screen the films on an isolated island off the west coast of Sweden. 

“We wanted to experiment with that, to isolate that feeling, and take it to the extreme,” said the festival’s artistic director.  Lisa Enroth, a 41-year-old nurse from southern Sweden, was chosen out of 12,000 applicants. On Saturday, she arrived on a rocky outcrop called Pater Noster to watch the 70 films.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man visits the Sistine Chapel on Monday,  the reopening day of the Vatican museum
CREDIT: ANDEAS SOLARO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A man uses a snow plow to clear off a sidewalk in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, USA
CREDIT: MICHEAL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES

Winter swimmers in fancy costumes dive into a partly frozen lake in Shenyang, China, with air temperatures of minus 23 degrees Celsius

CREDIT: STR/AFP VIA GETTy IMAGES

Ski resort workers block the road to the Frejus tunnel crossing the border with Italyto protest against the French government’s decision to close the resorts for the 2020/2021 winter
CREDIT: PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for February 1^st, 2021 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	30211.91	+229.29
		+.76%
S&P 500	3773.86	+59.62
		+1.61%
NASDAQ	13403.395	+332.701 +2.55%
TSX	17692.45	+355.42
		+2.05%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28091.05	+427.66
		+1.55%
HANG SENG	28892.76	+609.15
		+2.15%
SENSEX	48600.61	+2316.84
		+5.00%
FTSE 100*	6466.42	+58.96 +0.92%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	.884	.889
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.468	1.474
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.0792	1.0655
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.8518	1.8291

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	.77787	.78281
US $	1.28556	1.27746
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.55100	.64475
US $	1.20648	.82886

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1863.80	1853.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	53.55	52.20

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1869, the New York Stock Exchange required listed companies to register their securities to prevent “watered stock,” or the manipulated over-issuance of shares by insiders.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose on Monday with the broader market, led by mining companies and tech firms. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 2.1% in Toronto, the most since June as the Reddit-fueled surge in silver prices pushed mining stocks higher. Silver miners were among the top stocks Monday after price of the precious metal jumped to an almost eight-year high. All eleven sectors closed in the green. Meanwhile, Canadian pension plans returned 10% last year, thanks to a strong recovery in equity markets around the world, according to data from Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $12.65 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,859.55 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.7% to C$1.2860 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell slightly to 0.880%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 2.1 percent at 17,692.45 in Toronto. The move was the biggest gain since June 5 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.8 percent. Today, materials stocks led the market higher, as all sectors gained; 211 of 221 shares rose, while 10 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.6 percent. Silvercorp Metals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 25.7 percent.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15
times. The next day, it declined eight times for an average 4.1
percent and advanced seven times for an average 1.7 percent
* The index advanced 2.2 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2 percent below its 52-week high on
Jan. 8, 2021 and 58.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.5 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.68t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.42 percent compared with
11.98 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.05 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 88.8502| 3.8| 52/0
Information Technology | 85.6412| 4.8| 10/0
Financials | 45.4314| 0.9| 24/2
Energy | 44.9153| 2.2| 21/1
Industrials | 40.2718| 1.9| 28/1
Consumer Discretionary | 17.0571| 2.6| 12/1
Consumer Staples | 10.5417| 1.7| 11/0
Real Estate | 8.7241| 1.6| 25/1
Utilities | 5.4764| 0.6| 14/2
Communication Services | 5.2993| 0.6| 7/0
Health Care | 3.2075| 1.2| 7/2
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks had their biggest rally in about 10 weeks as several strategists said the recent explosion of speculative buying won’t derail the bull market in equities. In a broad-based advance led by technology and retail companies, the S&P 500 rebounded from last week’s selloff as the Nasdaq 100 jumped 2.5%. Heavyweights Amazon.com Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc., which are set to report earnings Tuesday, climbed at least 3.6%. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and some other day-trader favorites led the Reddit-fueled rally top Monday, while GameStop Corp. tumbled. Tesla Inc. soared after an analyst more than doubled his price target on the electric-car maker, saying “fireworks aren’t over.” Silver rose to an almost eight-year high, extending a surge that started with the retail investor frenzy sweeping through markets.
The battle between retail traders and hedge funds is unlikely to cause a significant setback for markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Major drawdowns have usually occurred when there’s a worse outlook for growth, as well as signs of overvaluation beyond price-earnings ratios and credit spreads, strategists led by John Normand wrote. Few markets show signs of extraordinary price momentum or excessive leverage, according to them. “The retail versus hedge fund conflict unfolding currently should be much less severe than the roughly 10% drops that have been occurring almost annually for the past two decades,” JPMorgan strategists noted. “Our bubble tracker based on extreme price momentum, valuations and investor leverage isn’t flashing red at the asset class level, even if it might at the security level.” While stretched valuations make markets vulnerable to a correction, investors should consider using “volatility opportunistically to select stocks in quality franchises with strong valuation support and cyclical leverage,” according to Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “Patience, more than greed, is likely to be rewarded,” she wrote in a note to clients. “Our view remains constructive.”

These are some key events coming up:
* Earnings season is full steam ahead as companies report
results, including Alibaba, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferrari, Exxon
Mobil, BNP Paribas and Yum! Brands.
* The Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy decision comes Tuesday.
* Wednesday sees the EIA crude oil inventory report.
* The Bank of England sets rates on Thursday and an Indian
central bank policy decision comes then too.
* The U.S. January payrolls report is due Friday, providing a first look at hiring in 2021.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 surged 1.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.9%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.3%.
* The euro sank 0.6% to $1.2058.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.3% to 104.96 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 1.07%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed less than one basis point to -0.52%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.321%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.8% to $53.67 a barrel.
* Gold strengthened 0.6% to $1,859.19 an ounce.
* Silver strengthened 7.1% to $28.91 per ounce.
–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Andreea Papuc, Adam Haigh, Anchalee Worrachate, Claire Ballentine and Kamaron Leach.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

When you appeared in this world, you cried, and all the people around you rejoiced. 
You have to live your life in such a way that when you leave this world,
you will rejoice, and all the people around you will cry. –Indian Wisdom.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com